Page 85 of The List of Things

“You’re taking it back with you?” He asks, and I nod, waving my hand.

He tosses the golden dog to me, and I shove it in my suitcase.

“You basically just killed the dog. I worked hard to win you that too,” He shakes his head, and I roll my eyes.

“Goldie will be fine, he’ll survive a few hour ride up north in the suitcase. He’s not complaining, do you hear complaints?” I cup my hand around my ear, and Bellamy laughs, the room falling silent around us.

“Are you excited to be back home?” He asks me in the quiet.

I nod, smiling to myself, “I always get excited to go back, mostly because I don’t plan on staying here forever. I love Washington but I want to be somewhere else, somewhere bigger, more exciting... So I spend as much time with my parents as I can for the time being,” I tell him.

“What are their names?” He’s propping his head up on his hand, staring at me as I sit on my living room floor in front of him.

“My dad is Dave, and my mom is Nancy,” I open my mouth again, and my words are stopped by the vibration of my phone.

I seeMomOn the screen, I pick up my phone, sliding it open. I put it on speaker, and throw it on my coffee table.

“Baby, it’s Mom,” I hear her and I smirk.

“Yes Mom, I know. I have your contact saved.”

“Why does it sound like I’m on speakerphone? What are you doing?” She’s always full of questions.

“Because you are on speaker phone, I’m packing my suitcase for home, and I have a friend in the room so behave.”

“A friend? Is it Sienna?” She asks me, and I make eye contact with Bellamy who is still laying across my couch, his face casual as he listens to our conversation.

He raises his eyebrows at me, probably wondering if I’m going to lie or not. I don’t lie to my mom though, especially not now.

“No, not Sienna, someone else,” My smirk forms on my lips.

I look down at the suitcase in front of me and continue to fold my clothes.

“Not Sienna? You don’t have any other friends... Is it a boy kind of friend?”

I sigh, “It is exactly that type. His name is Bellamy, say hi.”

“Hi, Bellamy!”

He looks at me, and then at the phone, “Hi, Mrs. Hart.”

My mom gasps.

“Oh Kammi he has a nice voice, are you sure he’s just your friend?” She asks and I roll my eyes.

“Mom…” I warn her with my voice, and she sighs.

“Fine. I just wanted to check in and see how you’re doing. Your dad and I are excited to see you,” She tells me, and I smile. “You can bring your friend too, we want to see him.”

I shake my head slowly.

“No one is coming home but me, sorry... But I’m excited to see you too. I also wanted to talk to you about something. Um, the football coach, he talked to me today.”

My eyes catch Bellamy who is no longer laying down but sitting up, his eyes on me, and not wavering at all. He connects his elbows to his knees, his clasped hands under his chin as he watches me. He’s gone from relaxed to rigid at the mention of Coach Corbin.

“The football coach? Well, what the hell did he say?” Excitement is very present in her tone.

“He said that my friend Bellamy had told him about me earlier this year, when he was talking about recruits,” I eye Bellamy, and his face doesn’t change.

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